This film shows troops of the First
Regiment, California Volunteers, boarding the Pacific Mail steamer City of
Peking to serve in the Philippine theater of the Spanish-American
War. The film was shot at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company Dock
between 10:50am and 1:50pm on Friday, May 13, 1898. The dock was
located at First Street between Brannan and Townsend streets, and is now a
segment of First Street called Delancey Street in the newly-
developed South Beach neighborhood. The camera is probably
facing north, from the shade of the pier into bright sunshine. The film
begins with flag-waving relatives in the foreground [15955] that
seem more interested in the camera than in the departing soldiers. The
troops are seen climbing the gangplank with full travel kits and rifles
[16377]. As the crowd watches the troops, at least one woman raises a
handkerchief to her eyes [16413]. In the bright background between the
ascending soldiers, troops are seen lining the ship's rails and a lifeboat is
visible [16705]. On this midday, over a thousand troops boarded the City of
Peking after marching across San Francisco from their bivouac at the
Presidio army base. An estimated thirty thousand people watched the
embarkation from the Pacific Mail Dock and several nearby piers. After
loading, the steamer pulled out into San Francisco Bay and re-
anchored, awaiting the loading of two more steamers, the Australia
and the Sydney, with the Oregon Volunteers and US Army regulars. The
fleet departed for the Philippines on Sunday, May 15th. Built in 1874, the
City of Peking was a long-serving 5,070-ton steamer of the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company. The ship made 116 round trips between San
Francisco and Hong Kong before being scrapped in 1920.